On Mon. Dec. 1 at 7pm The Bryant Library in Roslyn will present the
seventh and final concert in the series, “Jewish Opera Lives!”
featuring soprano Helene Williams and composer/conductor/pianist
Leonard Lehrman. This series, which began in Boca Raton last March
and has featured concerts in Teaneck, Morristown, Freeport, East
Hills, and Jericho, has been a lead-up to the US premiere of
HANNAH, an anti-war feminist Chanukah opera with music by Leonard
Lehrman on a libretto by the composer and Orel Odinov Protopopescu.
The performances will take place Tues. Dec. 9, 8pm at Community
Presbyterian Church, 12 Nottingham Rd., Malverne, NY and Tues. Dec. 23
7pm at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 1 W. 4th St.
in Manhattan.

This will be its New York City premiere, semi-staged, with soloists, chorus, piano, organ, violin, tambourine and 261 slide projections.

The 21-member cast features 9 soloists and The
Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, including one rabbi and 8 cantors*,
accompanied by organist Pedro D’Aquino and the composer conducting
from the piano. Admission is by donation. A copy of the libretto
will be given to anyone contributing $25 or more. No one will be
turned away. (*Cantors Meredith Greenberg, Raphael Frieder, David
Katz, Galit Dadoun Cohen, Fredda Mendelson, Janet Leuchter, Moshe
Bear, and Erik Contzius; also Jonathan Kline, Helene Williams, Rabbi
Joshua Minkin, and others)

For more information, see: http://huc.edu/news/2014/11/06/new-york-city-premiere-biblical-opera-hannah

“HANNAH brings to life the lost legend of the daughter of Mattathias,
who confronts her family and community at her wedding ceremony, in
protest against the oppressive practice of ‘the law of the first
night.’ Resonant with the stories of Dinah, Esther, Lilith, and
Judith, the opera presents the hidden *her*-story which instigates the
Maccabean revolt. Deeply informed by the biblical and midrashic
tradition, Leonard Lehrman and Orel Odinov have composed a *tour de
force* which will enrich our musical ears and our understanding of
Jewish history.”
–Rachel Adelman, PhD, Professor of Hebrew Bible Hebrew College, Newton, Mass.

The central legend on which the opera is based is disputed as to
authenticity, but is known to date back to the 2nd century C.E.:
Hannah’s tearing off all her clothes at her wedding shames her father
and her brothers into taking action against the oppressive regime. The
hegemon (overlord) Nikanor is killed, but so is Hannah’s beloved
Eleazar, whose peacemaking efforts give way to the violence of her
brother Judah (“the Maccabee”). In the final scene, Hannah prophesies
that her youngest brother Simon will be the sole survivor of the Civil
War she has unintentionally ignited. He promises to remember her, “by
lighting the earth with candles.”

For further information please visit <tinyurl.com/LJL-Hannah>.
To join the indiegogo campaign to raise funds to pay for the lighting
of the production, please visit .